Delta Air Lines has placed an order for 100 Boeing 737 Max 10 narrowbodies and taken options on a further 30. The US major says deliveries are set to begin in 2025, and that the Max 10's will be 20-30% more efficient than the retiring aircraft they replace. "The Boeing 737-10 will be an important addition to Delta's fleet as we shape a more sustainable future for air travel, with an elevated customer experience, improved fuel efficiency and best-in-class performance," states chief executive Ed Bastian. "These new aircraft provide superior operating economics and network flexibility, and the agreement reflects our prudent approach to deploying our capital." Atlanta-based Delta says the 737-10 aligns with "four key pillars" of its long-term strategy: size, being larger than the aircraft it replaces; simplification, given commonality across the airline's 737 fleet; scale, as it will bring that fleet to more than 300 jets by the end of the decade; and sustainability, joining the Airbus A321neo among Delta's most fuel-efficient aircraft. The SkyTeam member adds that the order is within the capex guidance it provided in December 2021. Of the 182 seats installed in Delta's Max 10's, 20 will be in first class, 33 in "Comfort+" and 129 in "Main Cabin". The airline intends to deploy the narrowbodies in core hubs including New York, Boston, Atlanta, Detroit, Minneapolis-St Paul, Seattle and Los Angeles. In growing to more than 300 aircraft, the 737 fleet will become Delta's second largest after the Airbus A320 family. Noting that the 737-10 is set to receive final certification from the US Federal Aviation Administration in 2023, Delta adds: "In the event of a delay, the agreement has adequate protection in place, including allowing Delta to shift to another model of the Max family if necessary."

Star Alliance chief executive Jeffrey Goh will be leaving his post at the end of 2022, six years after assuming leadership of the airline network. Goh is stepping down "to pursue other interests", says the alliance, which is beginning an international search for a successor. "On behalf of my colleagues across Star Alliance, I thank Jeffrey for his leadership and important contributions to Star Alliance and wish him well in his next endeavours," states United Airlines' Scott Kirby, who chairs the alliance's chief executive board. Goh joined Star Alliance in 2007 from IATA, having previously taught and practised law. He was chief operating officer and general counsel of Star Alliance before being promoted to chief executive in January 2017. The alliance says Goh was responsible for implementing among the airline partners "a biometrics solution, improved ability of customers selecting seats on a multi-airline itinerary and the automation of mileage accrual and redemption".

Regulators in Saudi Arabia have opened the country's airspace to all commercial carriers worldwide, ending an exclusion of those based in Israel. The kingdom's General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) disclosed in a 15 July Twitter post that it had opened the country's airspace "for all air carriers that meet the requirements of the authority for overflying" as well as those stipulated in the Chicago Convention of 1944. GACA adds that the decision is "aimed at consolidating the kingdom's position as a global hub connecting three continents, and to enhance international air connectivity". Israeli carriers' international traffic within the Middle East in July is limited to El Al's 24 flights connecting Tel Aviv and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. Israeli carriers El Al and Israir began flights to Dubai in December 2020 following the Israeli government's signing of a diplomatic normalisation agreement with its UAE counterparts in September 2020.